Katy Perry’s Animated ‘Resilient’ Video Follows Tree’s Lifecycle

Katy Perry has dropped an animated music video for “Resilient,” the latest visual from her album Smile, released last Friday.

The cute clip, directed by Aya Tanimura, follows the life cycle of a tree growing on a city block — from its start as a single seed in a bird’s droppings to a fully-grown plant. A whole cast of characters pass by the tree on its journey, including a struggling musician modeled after Perry, a local business owner, a pair of ants, a butterfly and a striped cat. The video contains numerous Easter eggs to various eras of Perry’s career and the challenges she’s faced, and there’s even a tongue-in-cheek reference to the infamous “plastic bag” line from Perry’s 2010 single “Firework” — see if you can spot it.

Along with “Resilient,” Smile contains the singles “Daisies,” “Never Really Over” and “Harleys in Hawaii,” as well as the title track, which received two music videos earlier this summer. Earlier this year, she released the non-album ballad “Never Worn White,” a song that chronicled her anxiety around marriage and accompanied a video where she revealed that she was expecting her first child with fiancé Orlando Bloom. In June, Perry headlined a virtual LGBTQ benefit show for Covid-19 aid.